One of the distinctive features of Central Elementary — the veranda at the Ray Avenue entrance — will be taken down in the near future due to safety concerns.

The New Philadelphia Board of Education approved an emergency resolution Monday to remove the structure at a cost of $19,525. Weaknesses were found in the veranda’s support columns and the roof, which are believed to date from the time the building opened in 1942.

Metal barricades block the entrance, which is closed. For the time being, visitors must use the back of the building nearest Second Street NW.

“We started looking at it in June for something to repair during the summer of 2014,” Superintendent Bob Alsept said. “During the inspection process, it was determined that we couldn’t wait on removal of the structure.”

The roof on the veranda is in bad shape, and school officials were worried about water leaking into the main building. The upper roof structure has water damage.

As employees of Civi Design Associates of New Philadelphia were checking the structure, they looked at the integrity of the four columns that support the roof. They expected to find I-beams in the columns, but instead discovered they were made of wood.

Workers will have to shore up the columns and then remove the roof. The process of shoring up the columns is expected to begin this week.

Once the structure is gone, the entrance will be reopened, Alsept said.

“We will not be doing anything for replacement of the structure for the remainder of this year,” he said.

A new veranda is expected to cost about $130,000.

“We’ll have to look at that,” Alsept said. “Obviously, that’s a large chunk of money.”

The district might fund the replacement project with money from the district’s permanent improvement levy, he said.

Removing the veranda at the beginning of the 2013-14 school year was not the ideal time. But Alsept said, “We didn’t feel in good conscience to let it go any longer. We had to take action now.”